Fire on the Frontier

As the idea of a Frontier began to emerge, two wars would erupt which would act as a precedent for much of the Anglo-Indian and Anglo-French conflict over the next one hundred years. King Philip’s War in 1675 would be the first time the colonies were forced to co-operate against a highly mobile indigenous enemy whose tactics of raid and ambush would typify the type of warfare that would terrorize Frontier life. King William’s War 1689-1697 would be the first in what would become known as the French and Indian Wars, and is seen by some as the first truly global war as it was fought between rival European Powers from Flanders to the Caribbean and beyond; vicious and combining both western and frontier styles of fighting, King William’s War would start a cycle of violence that would continue until French cession of Canada to the British in 1763.